Part of Your World?
by GhostDragoness
Summary: During movie night, Ray Stantz tells his niece Rita Stantz a story of how he came in contact with a beautiful mermaid, and how he and the other Ghostbusters helped to get her home.
1. Prologue

_Prologue: Movie Night_

_I_t was a very quiet evening at headquarters in New York City, as the Ghostbusters, both the original founders and the new rookies, all had the night off. Inside, only original founder Dr. Ray Stantz and his young niece Rita Stantz stayed at the firehouse as they prepare to spend a little uncle and niece get - together tonight during their day off.

"Hey Uncle Ray, wanna watch a movie tonight?" Rita asked.

"Sure Princess." Ray replied. "What would you like to watch?"

"Well, I haven't seen this movie since I was a kid,"

Rita pulls out a DVD from a small shelf beside the wide screen television at the recreational room of the Ghostbusters firehouse. The case was designed all an oceanic theme; a bright red crab stood at the bottom with a music conductor's baton, a small yellow and blue striped fish is seen swimming to the crab's right side, a half man and half fish with a golden trident was seen at the bottom right side of the case, a very large black and purple half woman half octopus was located on the left side of the case, and finally a blue/green eyed and bright red haired young girl is seen atop the movie case, leaning against the entitlement of the covering, _**The Little Mermaid**_.

"Man, I remember watching this almost every single night when I was little." Rita said.

"Oh! That was one of your most _favorite_ movies;" Ray explained as he noticed the movie video. "I remember you would come home every day from school and the first thing you do is you'd always tell me _'Uncle Ray, Uncle Ray I wanna watch the Little Mermaid, please?!' _(Chuckle) Aw, you were so cute at the time."

"… Ookay. I didn't think I would be overzealous over a movie."

"Honey, it was one of your all-time favorites when you were growing up. It's no big deal. If you want to watch it, then we'll watch it; I don't mind."

Rita shook her head, but smiled, knowing Ray was just remembering a good memory.

So Rita finally turned on a DVD player which was hooked up to the television set and then placed in the movie disc. Soon the movie started to play, and both Ray and Rita began to snug close together on the couch, enjoying each other's company as well as they watched Rita's childhood movie.

Around twenty minutes into the movie, a scene showed the red haired mermaid inside a large grotto filled with trinkets, pots and pans, books, and other knick-knacks were stacked all over the place; and the mermaid began to sing.

"_Look at this stuff, isn't it neat? _

_Wouldn't you think my collection's complete?_

_Wouldn't you think I'm the girl, the girl who has everything?_

_Look at this trove, treasures untold_

_How many wonders can one cavern hold?_

_Lookin' around here you'd think _

_Sure she's got everything…"_

About halfway into the song, Ray began to speak. "You know, I met an actual mermaid named Ariel one time."

Rita just stared at Ray, with her eyebrow lifted high.

"… What?" Rita replied. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No, I'm serious;" Ray continued. "I actually met a _mermaid_ named _Ariel_."

"… Ray, we're already halfway into the movie and now all of a sudden you claim to have seen a _**mermaid**_whose name is_**Ariel**_? Now I see why I rarely watch this movie anymore."

"No, no sweetie you've got it all wrong; see it started out way _before_ this movie was made. It's all true, I met an actual mermaid."

Rita didn't know how else to reply, she just stared at Ray thinking he was nuts.

But then Rita sighed and began to turn off the movie for the moment. She sat closer to her uncle, making herself comfortable as Ray wrapped his arms tighter around his niece's upper body; then finally, Rita spoke with her eyebrow still raised in doubt, but smirked a little as she actually wanted to hear this new story of her uncle's aquatic encounter.

"Okay, humor me; how did you meet this _mermaid named Ariel_?"

Ray stared at Rita at first, but then smiled and replied.

"Well, it all started out like this…"


	2. Chapter 1

_Chapter One: How It All Began_

_I__ was about your age when it happened, around five months after a brief encounter with a strange female apparition who approached me at Central Park; but that's an entirely __**different**__ story altogether. _

_Anyway, I think it was during a routine ghost busting assignment out on the docks of the New York Harbor; around the exact same time a horrible thunderstorm was coming just around the corner, and the guys and I were just about to capture a Class-V roaming animator that was terrorizing the sailors. It was a pretty nasty case as I remember; Winston had it cornered around a few crates full of freshly caught fish as the ghost seemed to have a weird connection with fish and other sea salt type elements. By the time Winston prepares his wand to wrangle the apparition, the creature already began to summon its abilities to throw the fish carcasses at him. _

_I cried out to warn him. _"Winston, look out!"

_Winston, of course, was able to dodge the ghost's attacks, while me, Peter, and Egon finally fired our wands at the roaming animator, wrangling it into position. Winston pulls out a ghost trap and instantaneously tosses it across the floor, operates the mechanism, and finally the ghost was successfully captured. _

_Soon afterwards, the guys and I returned over to Ecto-1, after earning our daily fee of course from the harbor master, but at the same time the thunderstorm quickly caught up to the city and began to start off with a light drizzle. So by the time we readied ourselves to drive back to headquarters, Janine called up on the radio, telling us of an incident going on back at HQ. _

"Hey guys, I think you'd better stay over at the harbor; there's a very big blockage of building debris at the main doors of the firehouse and it's probably going to take maybe a few hours before the officials of the city's construction company get rid of it all. I'll report back to you for any incoming calls, alright?"

_Egon picked up the receiver and replies with a steady tone. _"Copy that, Janine; as long as this storm doesn't further anymore damage, we'll be returning as soon as possible." _Then he started to report to us of the problem. _"It appears there's been an accident over at headquarters, so we'd better stay in our present location until Janine calls up for further assignments."

"Jeez, I didn't thing one lousy thunderstorm could cause some accident in just a few minutes." _Peter said, who felt a little annoyed on Egon's report._

"Hey, you'd be surprised with what nature can do, you know?" _Winston replied._

_That was about the time I began to hear faint cries and pleas just across the harbor, sounding as if someone was calling for help. _

"Guys, did you hear something?" _I asked. _

_Egon, Peter, and Winston each stood quiet and hear the faint sounds as well. I, myself, couldn't make out as to what it was at first, but something was telling me I have to go check it out, or it might be too late. So I quickly rushed over toward the next couple sets of the harbor piers, trying to find out __who__ or even __what__ it was. Then, around the fourth set of the pier, the thunderstorm began to worsen as lightning and thunder cracked and roared into the sky; soon the waves of the ocean crashes and hits over the harbor, and as soon as I reached the end of the pier, I didn't see anyone around that was calling for help. _

_I looked and searched all over, but then a huge wave crashes over the pier, making the four of us wet momentarily, but luckily it wasn't as bad as I thought; until, from a good distance, from the edge of the harbor docks, I finally hear a woman's scream. _

"Help! I-Is anyone out there?! Help me!"

_Just then, it looked as if a maelstrom had formed just within a hundred feet from the harbor itself, and that's when I notice a female swimmer, struggling to keep herself at bay, as well as from the whirlpool. The guys and I quickly rushed over toward the far east side of the harbor where the girl continued to struggle up toward the docks as quick as possible to get away from the heavy wakes and other waves; until one of the waves instantaneously rushes over her, picks her up, and finally swoops her over toward the harbor walls where she possible knocked herself out at the moment. _

_I quickly took off my proton pack, jumped right into the water, and as fast as I could I swam toward the swimmer, who slowly began to sink right into the water; I dove in as quick as I could, grabbed the woman, and finally carried her up into shore. The guys followed behind as they watched me pull the swimmer up to the beachside of the New York Harbor; and that's when I carried her unconscious body back over to the pier, and all three of my colleagues couldn't believe their own eyes as to what they saw. _

"Guys, this woman's unconscious, but I think she'll be able to recover in a matter of minutes!" _I said as I continued to carry the woman up to the pier. _

_By then, the storm began to settle down slightly, but continues to rain hard; at the same time, Peter, Egon, and Winston each had their jaws gaping open and their eyes widened with shock as they noticed something very, __very__, __**very**__ unusual about the swimmer I rescued. I didn't notice anything myself at the moment, but I'll tell you what, it's the one major discovery we will __never__ forget. _

_I asked with a curious tone as I noticed the looks on the guys' faces. _"What're you guys staring at?"

"… Uhh… Ray;" _Peter said, pointing at the woman's lower half. _"I-I think you'd better take a look at her legs."

"Her legs? Why; what's wrong with them -?"

_By the time I looked down at the swimmer's legs, it turns out they weren't legs at all! Believe it or not, it was an actual seaweed green colored __**fish tail**__; and by the time I inspected the tail all the way up to her entire human half, Egon, Peter, Winston, and I realized at that moment… I had just rescued a __real__ live __**mermaid**__!_

_Momentarily, the mermaid finally recovers from her unconsciousness and notices she was in my arms, possibly realizing she was saved. _

"Oh thank you, thank you;" _She said with gratitude. _"You saved my… life."

_As soon as she noticed me, she must've realized I was a human as well as she wasn't in the water anymore. I just stood there however, mystified over the fact that I held an actual live mermaid right in my own arms, but at the same time I wanted to say something just to break up the awkward silence all five of us were showing. _

"Uh… um…" _I began, stuttering at first. _"… I-I'm Raymond Stantz; but everybody calls me 'Ray' for short."

_The mermaid must've quickly figured out that I didn't mean her any harm, and so she gave a sweet and innocent smile as she introduced herself as well. _"Oh. My name's _**Ariel**_."

"Ariel? Wow; t-that's a - pretty name."

_I couldn't help but stare aimlessly at her red rose hair and those pretty blue eyes; she didn't look to be no less than fifteen or sixteen at the very least, and for a mermaid, she was a very beautiful girl. _


	3. Chapter 2

_Chapter Two: Are You Kidding Me?_

"_W_hoa, wait a minute, back up!" Rita interrupted with a skeptical tone in her voice.

Ray froze for a moment by Rita's rude interruption, but smiles tenderly as he felt Rita was feeling quite confused and baffled over the whole story, but mostly of the descriptions Ray explained about the mermaid he rescued.

Rita asked, continuing with the same tone level in her voice. "You mean to tell me that this mermaid you rescued, happened to _look_ like, _sound_ like, _**and**_ actually has the _same name_ - as the _**movie character**_?!"

Ray chuckled as he held Rita tighter up against his body with a comforting glee in his expression. "Well, yeah, pretty much; it's pretty ironic wouldn't you say so?"

Rita shook her head with a slight grin on her face, not knowing what to believe. "I don't know who tells the most ridiculous stories; fishermen, or _you_."

"(Chuckle) Oh Rita, if you were there at the time, you'd understand."

Rita sighed, but snuggled close onto her uncle's upper body as he continues to explain his encounter with Ariel the little mermaid.

"Now (ahem) where was I…?"


End file.
